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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

MMA Fighter Portraits

As a portrait photographer, fitness portraits and especially that of professional athletes and MMA Fighters are among my favorites. In the last two weeks, I've been fortunate to get the call to do fighter portraits for two of my long time friends - Keith "The Rockstar" Richardson (https://www.facebook.com/KeithTheRockstarRichardson/?fref=ts) and Adam "Ad-Bad" DeHart (https://www.facebook.com/dehartofachamp/?fref=ts). Both are at the top of their game!I joined Keith at his gym, Modern Warrior MMA (http://modernwarriormma.com), for his shoot as he prepares for his Bellator MMA debut coming up on April 22. It will be Bellator 153 on their return from Bellator 152 in Italy. His event will be held at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.As you can clearly see in his portraits, Keith is in the best shape ever. I could see the determination in his eyes. We started off with a basic posture and you can tell he means business in each image no matter how we had him turn. Here is the portrait set-up.

And here is his resulting portrait a little bigger.

From there for his next portraits we turn him a few different ways, stood him on top of things and worked with him. With each portrait, we changed the lighting set-up again and again and got Keith in fighter mode for it to show thru in his portraits.

His girlfriend and fitness partner, Chante, jumped in for an awesome photo with him. It turned out great!

Yesterday, April 5, I had the fortune of catching up with Adam "Ad-Bad" Dehart. He and other professionals from the community joined me for their professional headshots and portraits at East Coast Fighters (http://www.eastcoastfighter.com/)on South Boulevard. There, I had the pleasure of catching up with co-biz partner and instructor, John Piper, of the three Martial Arts they teach there - Traditional Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Fitness Kickboxing. More on their facility in an upcoming blog! But, nonetheless, John, who admittedly does not like his portrait made, jumped-in nervously for his. Upon seeing the out-of-the-camera result on the spot, he just began laughing in disbelief and said wow! That's always what I'm after with every portrait - the wow factor. You did great, John!

Back to Adam - this guy simply put is a beast in the ring, as well as a crowd favorite! A few things about Adam: He was ranked as the #1 amateur middleweight fighter in the southeast, Fight Lab Champion, Tribal Wars Champion, Stateline Champion, Battle of the Beast Ammy to Pro 8 man Tournament Champion, Fight Lab Hall of Fame, and starred in the Movie "Inside the Cage" - to name a few.For his bout this weekend, it's a rematch against an opponent Adam previously beat by decision in Atlanta ... which, by the way, is his opponents home town. Adam is the first "Catch Wrestler" to fight for Legacy on AXS TV (http://www.axs.tv/programs/fights/). Adam's forte is catch wrestling and boxing.SamSara on the Cliffs Resort (http://www.negrilhotels.com/ , Negril, Jamaica is Adam's biggest sponsor for the fight/ Adam is thrilled to represent the resort and Jamaica as Jamaica and SamSara are his favorite places to visit when he needs a break for a vacation. He feels at home there and loves the culture. When he and his partner in crime, Wendy, were there, they met the owner of SamSara. He recognized Adam as a fighter and talked about how he and Jamaica love MMA Fighting. The resort is going to stream the fight live to cheer Adam. Adam dreams of walking the Cliffs at SamSara barefoot as the Champ enjoys a break from it all - getting rejuvenated to continue his beastly fight to the top in pursuit of that Professional Middleweight World Champion Belt.Capturing Adam's portrait was easy, yet intimidating! He is so fight ready, when I focused in on his eyes, I felt he was about to burn a hole through my camera - literally! I composed myself, instructed Adam and got the lighting ready, and here's a portrait of a champ!

Thank you for reading this addition and following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Be sure to tune in to follow these awesome fighters and friends as they fight their way to the top!